Union City Fires

This 1938 feed mill fire was just one of many in Union City.The Union City Chair Company caught fire on September 17, 1904. The damages amounted to $200,000 and 23 men from the fire department fought the blaze. Another chair company, the Standard Chair Company, burned on November 14, 1906, with $120,000 in losses. The fire supposedly started in the boiler room of the factory. Seventy-five firemen fought it. On April 29, 1907, at 9:45 p.m., the Union City Chair Company again caught fire, this time suffering $300,000 in damages. A total of 83 men fought that fire. The Shreve Chair Factory burned on March 8, 1913, with a $250,000 loss. The fire started in the paint room and required 85 men to put it out. Since all of this fire activity continued to blaze in Union City, it was fortunate that Coleman Hose Company, Hunter Hook and Ladder, and the Union City fire Police merged and incorporated in 1939. The new fire fighting body became the Union City Volunteer Fire Department.

This feed mill fire in Union City happened in 1938. After the business district began to build up in the 1870s, Union City experienced some bad fires. One of the worst happened on April 24, 1879, when fire roared down both sides of Main Street from French Creek south to the corner of South Street. It did $75,000 worth of damage, but most businessmen resolved to rebuild and did so. A major fire started in Union City on January 19, 1885 in a row of frame buildings opposite the post office owned by the Ezra Cooper estate. It did $27,000 worth of damage. The chair companies in Union City provided some lasting fuel for fires. On July 25, 1881, a fire started in the boiler room of the Heineman and Cheney Chair Factory on the west side of town. It burned eight other buildings beside the chair factory and did an estimated $50,000 in damages